3 Effective Strategies For Successful Telephonic Interviews

A large number of companies are switching over to phone interviews, or phone screens, as a preliminary measure to determine if a candidate is suitable for a particular job. The phone interview also helps the interviewer in deciding whether the interviewee should be invited for the subsequent selection processes or for a face-to-face interview.

To add to this convenience, phone-based interviews are normally cost-effective and help to save a good amount of time for the company, so one should not be surprised if they are contacted by prospective employees for a telephonic round of interview.

Since, telephonic interview rounds are relatively new in many parts of the world; a few candidates don’t take it seriously as they feel that an interview via phone is not genuine. But, on the contrary, the fact remains that the employees or the recruiting team of the companies treat it seriously and any casual answer or insincere behaviour can go against the candidate.

Telephone interviews can be rightly termed as a candidate’s first step for getting inside a company, so they should treat it in a professional manner and avoid loose talks that can blow their chances of getting a good job!

Effective Strategies For Phone Interviews – here are a few good strategies that can help a candidate succeed their phone interviews, easily:

One should be as professional as they would be in a one-to-one interview:

This strategy implies that one must treat the phone interview with equal importance. They should be well-prepared and focused for the interview and gather adequate information about the job as well as the company. A major advantage of going through an interview on phone is that one can have information pertaining to the company right in front of them and they can search through the paperwork for job description or additional details that can give them a certain edge in the interview process. Some candidates also refer to the company’s website while giving phone interviews, to avoid missing out on vital details.

In addition, one must identify which technique works best for them and make sure that they have those materials handy before answering the interview call. However, candidates must avoid typing or flipping pages while going through the phone interview process because the interviewer might hear the keyboard clicks as well as the sound of paper being turned over. Therefore, the candidate should have all the necessary things ready by keeping all the websites and relevant document pages open, before the scheduled interview time.

While answering from a cell phone, one must ensure that they are in a quiet surrounding and the phone has good reception:

Noisy environments can be extremely distracting for the candidate as well as the interviewer and can go to the extent of hampering the entire interview process. Hence, the candidate must ensure that the interviewer gets the feeling that the interview is being taken seriously. No one would want blaring music or loud television or the sound of screaming toddlers coming from the neighbouring houses to disrupt their thought process and also distract the person who is interviewing but, most of the times the candidates can’t prevent or control these unnecessary noises.

For these reasons, it is advisable to take the call at a quiet restaurant or coffee shop. If there are no quiet places available nearby then they should check their local library and try to obtain permission to have a reserved space where they can give the interview peacefully and avoid any sort of embarrassment.

Prevent all kinds of distractions during the interview:

Handling an interview on the phone can be an extremely difficult task, when unavoidable things keep coming up. One must address all types of distractions before a phone interview by turning off their computer’s and television’s speakers, arrange for a babysitter for their kids, turn the other phones off for some time, request a family member or a friend to answer the doorbells, etc. The candidate must only concentrate on the interview and pay minute attention to whatever the interviewer says.

Lastly, after finishing the phone interview, one must send an e-mail to the interviewer, without fail, thanking them for the interview and for their time. This correspondence can help to indicate that the candidate is keenly interested in the job offer and can considerably improve his or her chances of getting the job.